The invention relates generally to the field of imaging and more specifically to the field of multimodal optical imaging.
Various imaging techniques have been developed for use in a wide range of applications. For example, in modern healthcare facilities, imaging systems are often used for identifying, diagnosing, and treating physical conditions.
A scope is an optical imaging device that provides real-time views. Although most scopes are designed for direct visual inspection with brightfield (white light) imaging, other detection modalities including narrow band illumination, luminescence (e.g., fluorescence and phosphorescence), and imaging of light outside the visible wavelength range have emerged.
For example, fluorescence endoscopy utilizes differences in the fluorescence response of healthy diseased tissue. The fluorophores that are excited during fluorescence endoscopy may be exogenously applied agents that accumulate preferentially in disease-associated tissues, or they may be the endogenous fluorophores that are present in all tissue. In the latter case, the fluorescence from the tissue is typically referred to as autofluorescence. Tissue autofluorescence is typically due to fluorophores with absorption bands in the UV and blue portion of the visible spectrum and certain emission bands in the green to red portions of the visible spectrum.
Another example is to use a fluorescent dye for inspection of defects in manufactured parts such as shaped metals. One or more dyes may be applied to the surface under study and, penetrating into defects such as material stress fractures. After removal of excess dye, the penetrant is excited by an excitation light source and the resulting fluorescence detected with an imaging system such as a borescope or a camera. White light inspection allows for direct visual inspection of the part, whereas fluorescence of the penetrant highlights defects.
It is therefore desirable to provide devices and techniques that enable scopes to perform multimodal optical imaging.